I disagree--the Romantic poets and Dracula reflect a lot about the culture of the time. You can determine what they consider important enough to mention, how social conventions went, what they were trying to say to the reader, etc.

Dracula would make a great Halloween-time read. There's so much vampire lore in our culture that come directly from this book.

From MST3K's spoof of "Hercules Unchained"--heard as Roman medic soldiers carry off an unconscious Greek Hercules on a 1950's Army green canvas stretcher: "Hi, we're IX-I-I. Did somebody dial IX-I-I?"